Suspended sediment fluxes and transport processes in the Gulf of Lions submarine canyons. The role of storms and dense water cascading

Palanqués, Albert; Madron, Xavier Durrieu de; Puig, Pere; Fabrés, Joan; Guillén, Jorge; Calafat, Antoni; Canals, Miquel; Heussner, Serge; Bonnin, Jérôme

doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2006.09.002

Cited by 249 publications

(203 citation statements)

References 38 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

188

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Detailed bathymetric and grain-size data from the California coast (Howard and Reineck 1981) and the Gulf of Lion (Palanques et al 2006) corroborate this view of coast-parallel nearshore sediment transport (Fig. 4).…”

Section: Fluvial-shallow Marine To Deep Water Connectionssupporting

confidence: 53%

“…As closure depth is a function of wave height, larger waves can transport sand farther from the actual shoreline than smaller waves, but measurements of sand distribution on modern shelves (Hallermeier 1981;Howard and Reineck 1981;Palanques et al 2006) suggest that waves and wavesupported currents are, in general, not capable of moving significant volumes of sediment in the basinward direction across wide shelves.…”

Section: Fluvial-shallow Marine To Deep Water Connectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Connections Between Fluvial To Shallow Marine Environments and Submarine Canyons: Implications For Sediment Transfer To Deep Water

Sweet

Blum

2016

Journal of Sedimentary Research

112

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The heads of submarine canyons represent a critical link in the transfer of sediment from terrestrial sources to deep basin sinks. Here we report data on grain size, bathymetry, and geochronology from twenty-five modern submarine canyons that suggest this link to be very sensitive to the distance between the canyon head and the shoreline, and, to a lesser extent, wave energy. These data show the width of this zone filters the caliber of sediment delivered into deep water, which has significant implications for understanding sediment budgets and the distribution of reservoir and seal facies.Data from modern systems show that the river mouths or longshore drift cells must come within about 500 m of the head of the canyon to deliver gravel-size material and within 1 to 5 km to deliver sand-size material to be transported down the canyon into deep water. Clay-and silt-size particles are transported greater distances across the shelf, up to a few tens of km, whereas beyond about 40 km, little sediment makes the connection to the heads of canyons and deposits are dominated by condensed, carbonate-rich sediments.Our data from modern systems are consistent with existing sequence stratigraphic models for sediment delivery to deep water. The significance of our work is to show in more detail how and when connections can occur between fluvial to shallow-water systems and submarine canyons and how these connections regulate the quantity and caliber of sediment that can be transported into deep water. Once the process-based conditions for connection are met, then the geology and climate of the source area control the quantity and caliber of sediment that can be moved to deep water.We hypothesize that connection times, and the resultant fractionation of sediment mass and grain size between shelf and deep-water depocenters, may have varied in a predictable way through geologic history. For example, during greenhouse times when sea level was relatively high, but with inherently low high-frequency variability, longer-lived connections between fluvial to nearshore environments and deep water may have been more likely. This scenario would favor the preferential transfer of sediment, especially sand, into deep water, and the development of thick, laterally extensive sand-rich basin-floor deposits. By contrast, during icehouse periods, high-amplitude sea-level fluctuations and inherently wider continental shelves may have resulted in repeated landward and seaward transits of river mouths and shorelines, shorter connection times between source and sink, especially for sand-size sediment, and preferential sequestration of sediment in shelf to shelf-margin parts of the system. These conditions would have resulted in deep-water deposits that are a mixture of locally thick sands, abundant turbidity-current-derived mud, and thin but basin-wide condensed sections that represent periods of sediment starvation in deep water.

show abstract

Section: Fluvial-shallow Marine To Deep Water Connectionssupporting

confidence: 53%

Section: Fluvial-shallow Marine To Deep Water Connectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Connections Between Fluvial To Shallow Marine Environments and Submarine Canyons: Implications For Sediment Transfer To Deep Water

Sweet

Blum

2016

Journal of Sedimentary Research

112

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…event 65 at 2293 m in WC3) may possibly be the remnant of 374 a previous plume. The sporadic sampling regime may be responsible for the detection of the plume 375 in WC3 two hours after the event in WC4, while this event may have been happening 376 instantaneously as has been seen in other studies (Palanques et al, 2006). Due to the limited data 377 set it is not possible to conclude whether the ENLs were sourced by one event or a number of 378 recurring events, but the time lines of VMS and appearance of the ENLs would indicate that these 379 were ongoing processes (Table 2) and it is likely that not all events were captured.…”

Section: C/n Ratios Of Spom In Enls 331mentioning

confidence: 71%

Anthropogenic influence on sediment transport in the Whittard Canyon, NE Atlantic

Wilson

Kiriakoulakis

Raine

et al. 2015

Marine Pollution Bulletin

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…This cooling produces an important increase of water density and the disappearance of the thermocline, which facilitates dense water formation . The dense water sinks in order to reach its level of neutral buoyancy, and may reach the shelf break and cascade through the numerous canyons that intersect the continental slope of the Gulf of Lions Palanques et al, 2006). The equilibrium depths for the dense water masses range from 170 to 800 m; however, in extraordinary cold winters (e.g.…”

Section: Page7mentioning

confidence: 99%

Living deep-sea benthic foraminifera from the Cap de Creus Canyon (western Mediterranean): Faunal–geochemical interactions

Contreras-Rosales

Koho

Duijnstee

et al. 2012

Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Suspended sediment fluxes and transport processes in the Gulf of Lions submarine canyons. The role of storms and dense water cascading

Cited by 249 publications

References 38 publications

Connections Between Fluvial To Shallow Marine Environments and Submarine Canyons: Implications For Sediment Transfer To Deep Water

Connections Between Fluvial To Shallow Marine Environments and Submarine Canyons: Implications For Sediment Transfer To Deep Water

Anthropogenic influence on sediment transport in the Whittard Canyon, NE Atlantic

Living deep-sea benthic foraminifera from the Cap de Creus Canyon (western Mediterranean): Faunal–geochemical interactions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About